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BASEBALL

BASEBALL; Fan's Tribute to the Mets Out of the World, Sort Of

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December 20, 2001, Section S, Page 6Buy Reprints
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The year of your seventh birthday can be a formative one. Just ask Mike Massimino.

Massimino was born in 1962 and was 7 when man walked on the moon and the Mets won the World Series. The miracles of '69 filled him with wonder and shaped him for life. ''That was my influential year,'' he said.

In two months, Massimino's dual passions will come together. Massimino grew up to be a NASA astronaut, and when he makes his first trip on a space shuttle Feb. 14, he will take a Mets jersey.

Massimino is assigned to upgrade and service the Hubble Space Telescope during the STS-109 mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He is one of seven astronauts on the mission, and he plans to wear John Franco's No. 45 jersey.

''I've met a lot of celebrities, but this is the first astronaut I've met or talked to,'' Franco said. ''To have him bring up a Mets jersey into space -- they tell me that a lot of times, anyway. Coming out of the bullpen sometimes, I feel like I'm in space.''

Massimino, a Franklin Square, N.Y., native who attended H. Frank Carey High School and Columbia University, has been an astronaut since 1996. In August 2000, when he learned he would be aboard this mission, he said he immediately started thinking of the items he could take with him.

''Right after I heard I was going into space, I thought, 'Well, here's my chance to fly something up for the Mets,' '' Massimino said.

Each astronaut is allowed to take a few items to store in his or her locker on the shuttle. Massimino decided to take T-shirts from his high school, college and grade school, John Street Elementary School, as well as a Mets jersey.

A co-worker at NASA knew someone who put him in touch with the Mets' co-owner Fred Wilpon, and the Mets sent along Franco's jersey.

Massimino will also take pins, flags and posters honoring the New York City police officers and firefighters who died Sept. 11.

Franco has a poster honoring the same people above his locker, which, like Massimino's, is stuffed with personal items. Soon, Franco may have some new mementos to display.

Franco, who said he and his teammates could see space shuttle launches from their spring training site in Port St. Lucie, Fla., asked Massimino to bring something back for his children. Massimino has invited the Mets to Kennedy Space Center for the launch, and he told the Mets he would give them back the jersey when he returned.

Massimino, who lives in Houston, has vivid memories of watching Rusty Staub hit a home run in the 1973 World Series and Dwight Gooden outduel Steve Carlton in 1985. But he will be in space before he sets foot on the grass at Shea Stadium.

The Mets have invited Massimino to throw out the first pitch before a game, bringing him close to achieving his other childhood ambition.

''I realize I wasn't good enough to play shortstop for the Mets,'' Massimino said. ''Being an astronaut was my second dream.''

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section S, Page 6 of the National edition with the headline: BASEBALL; Fan's Tribute to the Mets Out of the World, Sort Of. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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